April 24, 2008

Chile Open: New Horizons for Two of the Host's Players

Cristian Fuenzalida on form at exactly the right time Photo By: Cristian Larrain

Courtesy of ITTF Success on the morning of Thursday April 24, 2008 in the qualification stage of the Men's Singles event at the Chile Open meant for two players from the host association that new horizons had been achieved. A place in the main draw of an ITTF Pro Tour Tournament was the lot for sixteen year old Marcelo Fernandez and twenty-one year old Cristian Fuenzalida. Both had moved one step higher.

The players finishing in first and second places in the group stage progressed to the main draw plus two "Lucky Losers"; the Chilean duo both secured second places in the groups.

Recovery
Marcelo Fernandez overcame Argentina's Juan Greco to secure his place in the round of the last sixty-four while Cristian Fuenzalida performed the recovery of the morning to overcome the Czech Republic's Ondrej Buba.

Cristian Fuenzalida, who represented Chile in the recent Evergrande Real Estate World Team Championships in Guangzhou, trailed the Czech Republic's Ondrej Buba 6-9 in the seventh game before recovering to win five points in a row to secure victory to the delight of the home supporters.

Fortune
The young man from Valpariso kept his calm in the tension of the situation and had a stroke of fortune. At 9-6 Ondrej Buba served, the return clipped the top of the net and trickled over, the Czech player failed to make the return but believed the service to have been a let; the officials believed otherwise.

"I didn't think it was a let and the umpires saw nothing", said Cristian Fuenzalida. "At 6-9 down I took a Time Out, my coach told me that all the time he was serving short with no spin."

Service
The Chilean clearly listened intently and when it was his turn to serve he had a definite tactic. "I served with backspin, short and then tried to play wide; earlier in the match I'd made a lot of mistakes returning the service wide, towards the end I didn't make mistakes."

Success for Cristian Fuenzalida who had lost to Japan's Kenji Matsudaira on the previous day while for Marcelo Fernandez it was also victory against a South American player after having suffered defeat against an Asian star.

Different
On the first day of action Marcelo Fernandez had lost to Korea's Jeong Sang Eun, a high school player and not as yet signed by one of the professional clubs.

"Three things were very different in the two matches", said Marcelo Fernandez. "The service, the return of service and the speed."

Important Factors
The Chilean had highlighted arguably the three most important factors in table tennis and that is the difference.

"In the rallies I felt comfortable against Jeong Sang Eun but the problem was getting into a rally", explained the Chilean teenager. "Playing Juan Greco it was totally different."

Different Classes
Against the latter Juan Greco could not match Marcelo Fernandez in the area of service and receive nor when it came to speed.

It was a case of class, three different classes with Marcelo Fernandez, the man in the middle.

 

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